Pre Demersal Ban Deep Drop
Thursday looked like a good day to get out for a pre demersal ban deep drop off Two Rocks.
Still trying to figure this stuff out, but we found what looked like a good spot in around 420-430m and got a nice Bass Groper a couple of weeks back... that's the first pic and was 28kg on the scales.
Thursday we left the marina at 4:45am and did the first 10nm in the dark...pretty eerie, and we were on constant lookout for cray pots. There are plenty up until 7 or 8nm out, so kept speed down to around 14 knots. Sped up after it got light. which had us fishing 36nm out at 6:30am.
First drop straight into it and a good fish. Unfortunately the line parted, and when it finally reached the surface the reel says still over 100m out, so must have been a weak point. Next two drops we get Blue Eye....the biggest one probably around 14kg, although we didn't weigh it.
Then we hook up the bottom on the same reel that we lost line off before and it snaps off at the boat....It was low before we started, now not enough line to reach the bottom, so we are down to 1 rod/reel...not ideal.
At that point the bite completely shut down...seems we have to get out there earlier. With only 1 outfit in action, we figure we go do some more searching for ground and then head in to round out the bag.
The sounder pic is what we were fishing.
Cheers
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18026
Date Joined: 11/03/08
gotta be happy getting the
gotta be happy getting the rewards. plenty of miles covered for sometimes zip. pity about loosing all that line .
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
very very nice
very very nice
piston broke
Posts: 776
Date Joined: 05/11/08
Definitely
a fine line between pleasure and pain. Lots of k's Lots of fuel Lots of fishing gremlins , BUT you are gradually WINNING overall with those fish
ps plenty of boaties give it a go and say ALL TOO HARD. cheers Pete.
ChrisG
Posts: 558
Date Joined: 30/12/11
Very coolgot to in it to win
Very cool
got to in it to win it
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Great fish
Do you guys take your passports with you, that's fishing a hell of a long way of the coast and in some very very deep water.
Just a quick question I guess you are using electric reels but are you bringing them up real slow or what, the reason I'm asking this is looking at the eyes of your catch they are not bulged or popping like the usual state of the fish when brought up from such great depths.
With catches like that you really have got the game down pat well done and congratulations guys.
Belly Fish
Posts: 499
Date Joined: 09/03/12
Electrics
Yep, electrics, although my son has dropped jigs down a few times for some limited success. Rewarding, but real hard work.
The eyes do look good on those fish, but we didn’t especially bring them up slowly...more or less just as fast as the reel will allow. I use a Tanacom Bull 1000 and a Megatwin. Both are not particularly quick with a fish on. The Megatwin is 2 speed, but it drops to low gear automatically when you have a good fish on.
Belly Fish
Posts: 499
Date Joined: 09/03/12
Double post
.
Rick
Posts: 1112
Date Joined: 22/12/06
Nice bag
Good rewards for the effort. Its a long way and a lot of hours an fuel. I have to agree the earlier the better, when fishing the deep.
PGFC Member
Jsmolly
Posts: 186
Date Joined: 10/04/12
can someone tell me what
can someone tell me what they think that sounder shot (not bottom lock one) is showing. we have spots 250m off GI and Ocean Reef that show exact same. my interpetation is that it is like a ledge of two rock plates then jammed full of mud. ie it is not showing fish.
any better ideas??
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Definately a ledge. No fish
Definately a ledge. No fish showing, but they could be along the ledge with current/drift.
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Spence
Posts: 302
Date Joined: 09/08/10
Nice haul mate. Gotta be
Nice haul mate. Gotta be happy with that
-Spence
Insta: @wafishingofficial
Stickbait6
Posts: 20
Date Joined: 30/05/18
Killer fish , The bite with
Killer fish , The bite with deep drop can be really frustrating a few times the bite has shut down early-mid morning only to return red hot mid-late afternoon. So earlier doesnt mean better , except for beating them darn winds sometimes ha.
Belly Fish
Posts: 499
Date Joined: 09/03/12
Interesting Comments
As I mentioned, pretty new to this so trying to take it all in. What I can say is that the bottom read 405m then straight down to 428 over a very short distance. That was right where the “show” is on the bottom lock. We figured it was a ledge, with fish holding in the lee of it...but of course we could be wrong. The ledge is not just in one spot...it’s quite long, but the “show” is not all along it, only in a couple of spots.
Needs more research, but that will have to wait a couple of months now
Alan James
Posts: 2223
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Target masking
There have been previous discussions about 'target masking'. I suspect the your sounder pic is another example of this. More about this here:
http://fishwrecked.com/forum/sounder-shotdeep-drop
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
My take on that shot would be this
By the time that cone has reached 428m, it's pretty bloody wide. That is a 30m high slope, and the echo is not going to look like a steep drop, even if it is. The cone of signal is completely straddling the drop, so the signal processing will "average " it out , for want of a better word. you don't need to go super deep to see this effect--just get in 30 m of water, and run over a drop using 200khz, then drive over the same drop with a lower frequency, such as 50khz. The lower frequency will flatten it out, due to the wider cone of the 50 khz transducer. And the 200khz will still flatten out a ledge as you go deeper-wider cone does it. If you want sharp definition of rises and falls, you need a narrow cone.
snuffs
Posts: 140
Date Joined: 06/08/12
Nice catch Terry. Especially
Nice catch Terry. Especially impressive given the picture to me doesn't show the fish. Would be interesting to know whether the fish were actually caught off that exact bottom spot (i.e. hiding) , or were just nearby where the bait landed (given the sounder cone is so wide at that depth). Hard to tell I guess.
If you want to resolve the cray float issue in the dark get yourself an MD625 FLIR setup :) Have been researching/enqiring ... not cheap though as for me I would need to update Chartplotter screen to be FLIR compatibile as well. Was out last night and cray floats everywhere were a pain. I know some people have invested in prop rope cutters as a final contingency to avoid things getting ugly (but personally I have chosen against this path).
Cheers
John
gruntre69
Posts: 533
Date Joined: 15/10/16
Can you explain how the rope
Can you explain how the rope cutter works?
I'd love Flir but you would want to be boating at night often to justify the expense..
Marine trimmer NOR (available for clears, tops, carpet, upholstery, custom equipment covers)
snuffs
Posts: 140
Date Joined: 06/08/12
Here’s an example
Here’s an example http://www.ropestripper.com/
Cheers